Apple plans cheaper Vision Pro as tariffs threaten costs

Apple’s Vision Pro ambitions just hit the reset button. Following the lukewarm commercial debut of its $3,500 mixed reality headset in February 2024, the company is retooling its strategy — and it’s going cheaper, lighter, and (hopefully) more appealing to the masses.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is now all in on developing a more affordable version of the Vision Pro. That makes sense: At seven times the cost of the Meta Quest 3, Apple’s current headset was never going to be mainstream. It also doesn’t help that the Vision Pro weighs about 1.5 pounds — enough to leave your neck sore after extended use.

Per Gurman’s reporting, Apple was originally planning a simple spec bump for the Vision Pro — swapping out the M2 chip for the forthcoming M5 — but CEO Tim Cook seems to have shifted course.

The company has scrapped plans for a pair of AR glasses, and its roadmap now includes two new versions: a consumer-friendly model with a lower price tag and a tethered version designed to connect to a Mac for ultra-low-latency display streaming and enterprise-grade tasks (think surgery and flight simulators).

For now, the biggest hurdle for Apple’s lighter and cheaper Vision Pro refresh is Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, which pose a major challenge to cutting costs on an already expensive device.